The “spot the ___” posts, originated by Matthew Cobb, have been numerous lately thanks to readers sending things in. If you take one, be sure not to put the animal in the middle of the photo, and also send a photo with the object circled. Today we have a beast sent by reader Ollie, who said this: “I think that this is a great example of animal camouflage. The snake is actually quite long but it took these old eye a few seconds.”
This I would judge to be of “easy to medium difficulty.” I’ll put up the reveal in a few hours. Oh, and if readers could provide an identification it would be much appreciated.
Or perhaps “easy peasy, lemon squeezy”.
Got it.
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The moth was well nigh impossible and this is easy – but then the moth was tiny – both are very well camourflaged.
Ditto.
My first thought was, “Isn’t this the same tree with the moth?” But then I saw the snake. Nice.
There it is, grey on grey and headed up the tree going for acorns.
Holy crap! I actually spotted the snake. One in a row for me.
Tentative identification: Pantherophis spiloides, grey rat snake. Do you know where the picture was taken?
I am going to guess that this is a juvenile copperhead. I love the scientific name: Agkistrodon contortrix.
I agree. Clues for those who aren’t familiar with this species:
1. Darker “hourglass” or “butterfly” bands on lighter background.
2. Head relatively broad, as in other pit vipers, and warmer colored than the body.
3. Yellow tail tip (on juveniles).
Beautiful; one of my favorite snakes.
The pattern is closer than for a rat snake, but the color doesn’t seem right for a copperhead.
The snake looks lovely on that background.
I was going to say the same thing. God made the right choices here.
Eastern hognosed snake? Doesn’t look like copperheads we have around this part of Virginia.
Wow. After you see it, it no longer blends.
I’d like to know where this was taken. And I’m talking latitude, primarily!